First Le Mans Motor Race
The First Le Mans Motor Race took place on May 26, 1923, marking the beginning of an iconic endurance racing event held in Le Mans, France. This inaugural race featured 35 cars, with drivers André Lagache and René Léonard emerging victorious, maintaining an impressive average speed of nearly 60 miles per hour. The event was designed to push the boundaries of automotive technology and endurance, a concept initiated by French motoring journalist Charles Faroux, who aimed to address the inadequacies of automotive electrical systems of the time. Together with Georges Durand of the L'Automobile Club de L'Ouest, Faroux organized the competition, which included separate races for larger and smaller vehicles, accounting for performance differences with a unique handicapping system.
Traditionally held in mid-June, the Le Mans race has evolved to attract primarily European competitors and has seen prestigious manufacturers like Bentley, Ferrari, and Porsche achieve notable successes. While the United States has had limited representation, Ford's sponsorship of winning entries in the late 1960s is a significant highlight. The race has continued almost every year since its inception, with interruptions primarily due to World War II. Today, the Le Mans 24-hour race stands as a testament to automotive innovation and endurance racing.
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First Le Mans Motor Race
First Le Mans Motor Race
The first Le Mans racing competition was held on May 26, 1923. The race, which has become world famous, is a 24-hour endurance test around an extensive raceway in Le Mans, France, a northern industrial town on the river Sarthe. The first competition included 35 cars and was won by drivers André Lagache and René Léonard, who kept an average speed of nearly 60 miles an hour, then an impressive achievement.
Ostensibly the purpose of race car events such as Le Mans is to test new automotive technologies and extend the limits of speed and endurance. The Le Mans event was conceived by the French motoring journalist Charles Faroux, who was concerned with the poor performance of automotive electrical equipment during his day. Faroux's idea for an auto race piqued the interest of his friends, one of whom, Georges Durand, was the secretary general of the organization L'Automobile Club de L'Ouest (ACO) in Sarthe. They soon devised a pair of races: the Grand Prix of Endurance, at which larger touring cars could excel, and the Rudge-Whitworth Triennial Cup (later called the Biennial Cup) for smaller cars. Contestants for the Biennial Cup would be handicapped with minimum qualifying distances for each class (with distance checks done every six hours during the 24-hour race).
Today the race usually takes place in mid-June after several weeks of qualifying events. The competitors are primarily European, and over the decades such noted automobile companies as Bentley, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Porsche, Peugot, BMW, and Audi have distinguished themselves by entering winning vehicles. The United States has not been a noteworthy participant, although Ford Motors sponsored several winning entrants in the late 1960s. Le Mans has been held annually almost every year since its inception in 1923, with the largest hiatus being from 1940 to 1948 due to World War II and the consequences of the German occupation of France.